Nutritional aspects to optimize climbing training and performance

One of the climbing performance key factors is the body weight. Climbing depends in it. We shouldn’t forget that move extra weight will add an extra load to the muscles that are involved in climbing, mainly in overhanging walls, where it’s more difficult to use your feet to support weight and this way help upper body.
Maintaining body weight in optimal values and reducing weight to minimum is a must for performance.
In the graphic you will see the different body sizes of an elite climber in relation to the population media (Phantom strategy). Skin folds are between 2 and 3 standard deviations, which means a very lean body.
Legs perimeters are below the media, but upper body perimeters (forearms and arms) are above.Body weight is a sum of 5 different tissues: muscle, adipose, bone, organs and body liquids.
One of the ways to measure those components is doing an anthropometry, which determines the percentages of each component and with that information one can decide if it is necessary to modify body composition to optimize performance.
The next graphics shows the different component percentages of an elite climber and it comparison with the media (Phantom)

Note again, that the adipose mass is between 2 and 3 SD below the media, and the muscular mass above.

Muscular and adipose mass are the values that can be modified by training and nutrition. Upper body muscular mass (muscles) is one of the fundamental components of climbing performance, and for that reason is a must to maintain it or sometimes increase its volume. Sometimes is recommended to reduce lower body muscular mass by a specific training (low intensity aerobic exercise)
But body fat is useless in climbing, and is a must to reduce it to the lowest possible values.

It’s interesting to note that some levels of body fat are necessary to maintain body normal functions, so some minimum levels are required: 15% for men and 20 % for women predicted by Kerr 1988 anthropometric formula.

Nutrition is one of the factors for reduce or maintain body weight, determined by the caloric intake.
To reduce body weight it is necessary to acquire a negative energetic balance, which means that the energetic intake must be lower than the energy consumption.
There are two ways to do this: reducing caloric intake or increase energy consumption (by training).
Some recommendations to reduce weight:
- Moderate caloric restriction (-500 to 1000 Kcal/day)
- Low fat diet (20-35% of the total caloric intake)
- Moderate protein diet (15 to 25%)
- Carbohydrates 55-60% of the total caloric intake, using simple carbs are preferably
- Include foods rich in fibers like fruits and vegetables

Excessive food intake restriction might be dangerous for performance. It is necessary to maintain energy levels to support training loads, and recover from them.
Nutritional strategies to reduce body weight will be a guide for all day diet, but it is very important to start training with full energy stores, and during the recovery period assure the essential components to accelerate and complete it.
It’s necessary to adopt specific nutritional strategies for each climbing training session.

Previous to each climbing training session you must eat enough carbohydrates to maintain the activity throughout the whole period of time. If it lasts more than one hour it will be necessary also to ingest carbohydrates during the same training session.
In turn to recover it is important to consume them after training, before two hours of having concluded. Carbohydrate sport drinks are a good option if you don't tolerate foods in the stomach during training or immediately after finish.
Consider that not only the quantity or type of nutritious is important, but also the time where they should be eaten, if you eat them during the two previous and/or later hours to the workout, the benefits are amplified.
If the goal of the training session is the strength improvement, you’ve to supplement the carbohydrates intake with proteins, especially branched chain amino acids (BCAA) to avoid the muscular catabolism (muscular fibers rupture), characteristic of this type of trainings.
The BCAA constitute near 33% of the total of amino acids that form the muscular proteins, and they are fundamental to stimulate and regulate the protein synthesis processes
There is enough scientific evidences that indicates that the BCAA supplementation is effective to improve recovery speed and to stimulate the protein synthesis. On the other hand, they have also benefits to attenuate the mental fatigue provoked by a serotonin excess (cerebral neurotransmitter that regulates the neural activity) that could induce to apathy and performance reduction.

Prof. Juan Martín Miranda

A wrong way life

The title of this post is from my best friend Nari that defines all their desires some time ago, where he was so passionate about climbing, but 400 km away from any rock. It is very probable that if he had been born in the best climbing place in the world he had wanted to dedicate to surf with the sea so, so far...

But now he lives climbing somewhere in Europe.

But take it easy Nari, you still on the wrong way.

What I mean is that no matter how much we are devoted to training, getting adaptations in muscles, more endurance, more strength, more power, improving our technique, tactics, strategy, or whatever comes to mind, it is very probable that we cannot transform our organism to such a point that climbing can be natural. Everything unless we win in some way to THE EVOLUTION

It will be very difficult to win the fight against thousands of years of evolution, not in vain we stop to climb to adapt to a walking life getting all the comforts of the modernity.

One of the main differences that separate us from the monkeys is the thumb opposition, which allows to hold things with more precision, but when we’re eock climbing we don't know what to do with that thumb that we uses so much pinching all plastic holds, unless we find a big pinch on the rock.

But the idea here is not to outline problems, just to try to solve them.

Our predecessors lived in trees approximately about nine million years ago, as today lives the chimpanzees. Later a separation took place in the line of the evolution: on one hand the big monkeys, and in the other hand, the men. It probably begins here the development of the hominids, and the man's history, of Homo sapiens, and of their predecessors, Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Neandertalis. All of them are extinguished. We are still the only hominids alive. Different monkeys have also survived: chimpanzees, gorillas, etc.

It is important to notice that the biological evolution makes reference to the populations and not to the individuals; also the changes should pass to the following generation. In the practice this means: The Evolution is a process that appears as a result of the heritable changes in an extensive population through many generations.

We can’t deny that with training we produce changes and adaptations in our own organism (THE TRAINING LOAD IN SPORT CLIMBING article in www.marvinclimbing.com). Those adaptations are those that will allow us to improve and progress.

But as individuals we will never end up possessing the characteristics of the monkeys, no matter how much we effort.

We have to think in the evolution!!!

The secret here is to achieve the best adaptations in our organism through practices and training and to PROCREATE to be able to transmit those adaptations to other generations.

For that reason I go for my second son

Prof. Juan Martín Miranda

adding extra weight to the climbing training session

Sometimes training stimulus in climbing should be more intense than the normal, especially in high level athletes with a huge training record (several years, several hours per day).

The training intensity can be increased by increasing the wall angle and/or diminishing the holds size. But if the wall angle overcomes 50-60 degrades the technique gets complicated (it’s more like a roof), and when diminishing excessively the holds size it can be dangerous for the hand joints and tendons and inclusive a bit painful.

To get adaptations, the intensity of each stimulus should be bigger than the previous ones; and when the possibilities of the two previous variables are drained it is necessary to use another strategy.

At this point you can add extra weight to our body to increase intensity.

That has many purposes:

- To increase the intensity of the training of the flexors of the hand, and all the involved muscles

- To diminish the time of total training

- To generate more intense stimulus to provoke adaptations when plateaus take place

- Well planned gets extraordinary results in high level athletes, but in intermediate and low level climbers, it can interfere in the attainment of effective technical expressions and mainly provoke injuries when adding too much stress in the joints, muscles and tendons.

The weight that should be added should not be in any moment superior to 5% of the body weight. The best way to make it is through a weighted belt, so that the added weight is located near the body center of gravity. The vests ankle belts are dissuaded, the first to interfere in the movements of the shoulder, and the seconds because they generate an excessive load in the knee when making foot movement, and both methods change too much the body center of gravity.

Each time you finish your weighted workout you must do several climbing movements without the extra weight, means the last set of your session or at least a couple of boulder problems. This way you can rearrange the corporal scheme to the normal position of the center of gravity.

Some recommendations:

- This method is exclusive for climbers with a wide record of training

- It should be used in climbers with great consolidated movement repertoire

- Immediately after a weighted session it’s advisable to transfer the training to an unweighted climbing

- This method is great to increase strength, and also it can be used to add intensity in the different types of endurance training.

- This method should be located in specific periods of training (concentrated loads or shock microcycles)

- The recovery time among sessions should not be smaller than 48 hours, due to the excessive load provoked in the joints, muscles and tendons.

- The use of regenerative measures is recommended to increase the recovery in the weighted climbing periods.

Pof. Juan Martin Miranda

BAD LUCK FOR THE CAMPUS

Contrarily to what many training for climbing gurus think, campus training would not have the capacity to be a plyometric.


In a recent study of Francoise-Regis M. Thevenet (Master in Investigation Thesis, France), he analyze the inter-joints coordination, angles, angular speeds and times of force development of three sport expressions: a Squat Jump (jumping from squat position), a campus jump with both arms and a dyno (common movement in climbing where arms and legs are used in a coordinated way).
Inside the conclusions of this study we can see that the times of force development until the arms take off in the campus jump are 691 + - 10,5 ms; keeping in mind that after 450 ms the nervous system can regulate the movement by the intervention of the antagonistic muscles, and the myotatic reflex, impeding the development of the increased power involved in plyometric activities. Due to that duration of the force expression, the campus jump cannot be considered a dynamic expression as a jump.
Comparing the campus jump with the squat jump and the climbing dyno, the movement speed and the reached height is lower (0,11 mts against 0,27 mts and 0,48 mts respectively). The problem resides in that the upper muscles should displace 90% of the corporal mass, with much smaller muscular volume that when the legs are used in the jump, or the legs and the arms in the dyno.
Also the take off in the campus jumps takes place when the joints almost arrives to its most favorable angle to produce force (90°) where the back muscles (latissimus dorsi) will be the main motors and arriving almost to the maximum flexion (52°).

On the other hand during the dyno, the coordination between legs and arms outlines an use of different musculature. The legs are the main motors, while the arms maintain the body near the wall, completing a hinge function.
Plyometrics implies an eccentric (stretching) contraction immediately followed by a concentric contraction, in other words stretch the muscle before contracting so that the accumulated energy during the eccentric contraction is released during the concentric contraction producing a more powerful movement. But the main characteristic is the duration of the impulse phase (concentric contraction). This is denominated Stretch Shortening Cycle.
Actions that overcome 350 ms lose that whole accumulated energy, so they are not plyometric exercises.
By the way not everything is lost in campus training. It is an indispensable tool for training for climbing in high level athletes. If we use both arms from complete extension as it outlines the previous study without a doubt the times of force development will be excessive, but if we limit joint range, the action have the capacity to be plyometric. At the moment I am developing a device to measure the hands contact time in the campus in repetitive campus jumps, that which will be able to clarify a little more on this topic.
As always there is a lot to investigate, but campus has many utilities, not only arm jumps. To know more about the training with campus you can check www.marvinclimbing.com

STRENGTH TRAINING METHODS FOR ELITE CLIMBERS

The increment of the sport mastery (M) depends mainly on two factors: the increase of the athlete's motor potential (P) and their ability to take advantage in an effective way from that potential in trainings and competitions (H). The greater the athlete his specific motor potential and make use of it effectively, the more his performance will improve.

Now, the increase of the sportsman's motor potential (P) and, therefore, the progress of the sport mastery (M) demands a constant increase of the training stimulus (C) in the organism, since they are necessary higher training loads of to get improvements.

This is the fundamental law of the process of formation of the sport mastery . The complete content and the organization of a long term training should be focused toward the creation of the reasonable conditions for the execution of that law.

1- the mechanism under the development of the process to reach the sports mastery during many years of training consists on the steady raise in the motor potential of the body and the improvement of the sportsman's ability to use it effectively in training and competitions.
2- The increase in the key motor functions in the process to reach the mastery slows, and its stagnation in the high level athlete requires that the intensity of the training increases
3- The increase in the sportsman's motor potential throughout many years of training is based on a very concrete morpho-functional specialization of the organism.

The functional specialization of the organism throughout several years of training it is manifested in two ways.

- First, explicit adaptations / alterations are achieved in those muscular groups and physiologic systems that mainly assure the capacity of the sportsman's work

- Second, the functional improvement of the body is expressed by the development of those specific motor abilities which are indispensable for the success in a given sport activity.

Thus, the key item is the specialization of the organism or the organs on one hand, and the motor ability on the other.

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Restoring the work capacity after a climbing session

The training of a climber will be effective if he use correctly the means and methods of training and a complete restoring of the work capacity is achieved.

It is so important the work load as the recovery after it. When executing physical exercises, some processes starts in the organism: rupture and reestablishment of chemical substances, rich in energy, with the particularity that the first ones prevail over the seconds. Once concluded the exercise, inverse changes occurs in the functional systems activity. All changes in that period are denominated work capacity restoration. The metabolism byproducts are eliminated and the energy stores, the plastic or structural substances and the enzymes consumed during the activity are completed.

The means that are used in the reestablishment of the functions are classified in three groups: pedagogic, psychological and physiologic.

The pedagogic means of reestablishment are the selection, variation and combination of means and methods in the elaboration of the training program , the loads diversity and the combinations in different periods of time.

The psychological means of recovery diminish the psychic tension and the state of psychic depression and accelerate the energy recovery. Some common psychological means are the autogenic training, the, selfconfidence, etc.

The psycoregulation training is based on the regulation of the psychic state, using the conscious relaxation of the muscular system and the sportsman's influence on his organism functions.

Lastly, the physiologic means contribute to increase the organism resistance to training loads, to treat general and local fatigue, to replenish the energy resources and the acceleration of the adaptativos processes. This methods includes: feeding, supplementations and pharmacological treatment and the physical means.

The post of today has to do with the physical means that commonly are used in the recovery of climbing sessions. In successive post I will treat the other means.

Several options exist to accelerate the recovery and to reestablish the work capacity. Inside these methods we can find useful the massage, the cold water baths of and electrostimulation

The massage has the following functions:

- Analgesic effect

- It helps to prevent of soft tissues injuries (muscles, tendons, fascias and bursas)

- It stimulates the blood flow

- It eliminates toxins and substances of metabolic waste

- It retards the appearance of muscular fatigue

Cold water baths has been used in the sport from very long time. Cold baths analgesic and healing effect is beneficial for the repetitive microinjuries taken place by climbing. It diminishes the local muscular metabolism and the oxygen demand.

A minimum of five minutes it is required, after which the temperature in the depth of the muscle ant tendons descends about 2-3º. The time should not overcome10 minutes. The application of this technique is very uncomfortable and it requires a great motivation and willpower to carry out it.

This therapeutic measure is highly advisable also to reduce the articulations inflammatory response (especially of the hand) after intense sessions of training in the campus, hangboard and/or boulder.

Ice and water should be placed in a recipient and to there the hands for 30s x 30s period up to 5 to 10 minutes.

The electroestimulator ussage, in the active recovery program that uses some frequencies that go from 10 to 1 Hz, will produce different beneficial effects: first we will obtain an effect of elimination of lactic acid and other toxins; second an oxygenation will contribute to a quick recovery of the muscular tissues, followed by an endorphinic effect that will contribute to calm the pain associated with training, and finally to a general relaxation. Also, this recovery will allow us to confront the following training under good conditions.

It should be used no more than 3 hours after an intensive training or a competition.

The active recovery programs have a duration of 25 to 40 minutes, and with a 4 channels electrostimulator we will be able to stimulate two muscular groups at the same time.

Creatine supplementation

The muscle only obtains energy for muscular contraction through the energy liberated by the rupture of ATP molecules (adenosine + phosphate + phosphate + phosphate).

When this rupture takes place energy is released and it is used by the muscle This reduces the ATP to ADP + P. ATP is very limited and it allows some few seconds of intense activity (2 to 3 seconds), and for that reason it is necessary to reload it quickly if we want to prolong the effort for more seconds.

To do this the energy contained in another compound, PCr (phosphate + creatine) is used. This compound, also limited, allows to rebuild ATP, prolonging the high intensity effort until 20 seconds approximately, until its concentration in the cell decrease. Because PCr has an essential role in ATP levels recovery, this decrease harms the work capacity. Next graphic shows the changes in muscle ATP and PCr during the first seconds of maximal work.

What would happen if we increase PCr levels in the muscular cell?

We could maintain elevated ATP concentrations for more time and then we could maintain high intensity effort for more time.

Also, we would accelerate the ATP recovery from high intensity efforts, and to repeat many more times that effort.

Translated to climbing, will allows to make harder boulder problems, more longer more quantity of problems per training session, In boulder comp, will allows a faster recovery from attempts, and maintain a high intensity work capacity throughout the whole event, and in the case of rock climbing, it will allow us to work routes, and if the same are divided with some good rests, will allows to use as energy source to arrive from to until the top.

To achieve this one can make in two ways, with training, in particular the intermittent training (interbloque), and/or increasing creatine stores.

So creatine supplementation is one of the main ergogenics supplements that exist at the moment.

The speed and efficiency of the PCr replacement depends mainly on the total muscular creatine, so supplements with creatine helps to increase the stores, with the consequent performance improvement.

Some of the proven effects scientifically are the following ones (Naclerio Ayllón 2007):

1. increase intramuscular creatine levels according to each person's natural limit. (Branch 2003, Syrotuik & Bell 2004, Walzel, and cols. 2002).

2. improves the speed of the recovery processes and it slows the fatigue in intense and repeated works with incomplete recovery rests(<>

3. allows to maintain bigger work volumes with the wanted intensity (Branch 2003, Rawson & Volek 2003)

4. induces an cellular volume increment, due to their osmotic effect. The hydration and cellular expansion constitutes fundamental stimulus to attenuate the catabolism and to stimulate protein synthesis, favoring the regeneration processes and hypertrophy. (I gave Pasquale 1997, Persky & Brazeau 2001).

5. facilitates calcium ions release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum speeding up the contraction-relaxation processes because the acto-miosine bridges are formed and they break faster facilitating the capacity of the fiber be stimulated in smaller periods of time , improving again the work efficiency (Nooman, and cols. 1998).

To be able to achieve a maximum saturation of the intracelular creatine deposits, the only way is through the ingest of a nutritional supplement that contains a high concentration of creatine monohydrate. There are two ways to take creatine:

First one is to use a loading period, with 0,25 to 0,35 grams per kilogram of body weight distributed in 4 daily takings during 7 days, and then to a maintenance period of with 0.03 to 0,09 grams per kilogram of body weight. Due to the increment of the cellular volume that has as effect, it accumulates water in the cells, producing this way an increase in total body weight, something that is counteractive in climbing. During this loading period it is probable an increase from 0,75 to 1 Kg. of body weight, as consequence of that increase of water in the cells.

Second way, is through a longer loading phase, using 5 grams of creatine in a daily dose for a 30 days period, wich allows to arrive to similar creatine concentrations, but after that period of time, and recently there to get benefits. Then it should be continued with the period of maintenance. This option is the most recommended for climbers that are not carrying out trainings that are mainly beneficiaries from creatine (those that train several capacities at the same time), but in climbers that are in a period of maximum force training they will be directly beneficiaries if the creatine accumulates quickly and they take advantage of it to improve the training quality and indirectly it will impact in the performance..

Lamentablemente, la creatina no es para todos, ya que existe un 30% de la población que no es sensible a la creatina, por lo tanto no se verán beneficiados por este suplemento.

To facilitate the absorption, the creatine monohydrate ingestion should be accompanied by high glycemic index beverage (fruit juice),.

The creatine supplementation should be accompanied by a washing period after 2 or 3 months, to allow natural creatine synthesis. This period is approximately of 1 month before a new loading phase.

Creatine is not for every one. 30% of the population is not sensitive creatine, therefore they won't be benefited by this supplement.